Elektron-Users

Anyone got any tips for reducing pops and clicks in the MD? I've noticed in the last couple of tracks I've worked on I get some nasty popping sounds when one sample trig is cut off by the next - i'm guessing a result of the waveform being played back being "snapped' back to zero as the next trig starts playing. It's most obvious on bass samples (especially single cycle waveforms).. it can sound pretty cool sometimes but generally i don't want them there, and reverb seems to accentuate them badly.

I've tried using the compressor to remove them but haven't had much luck, and then the rest of my clicky percussion sounds are squashed too. Any fixes for this except for using an external compressor? I was thinking I could ramp the volume down to zero using ctr-8p before or "during" the next trig using two channels, but that seems like a limiting solution.. my software sequencer doesn't seem to do this at all.

Tried searching, and couldn't come up with much..

thanks

use very slight attack/decay on your samples. i don't mean in the UW but on the actual samples before you put them into the MDUW.

its almost certainly the samples colliding/bumping up next to each other. i have experienced this in both the UW and the Monome. using 'microedits' will resolve has fixed this for me.

I don't think having your samples preprocessed will help unless it's the sample that contains the click. The pop/click happens when sample is stopped when it's in non-zero position. Higher the peak higher the click. Unfortunately that's something that should be fixed in the synth, not in the samples. Also it's fairly random so detecting and fixing the glitches might seem a hit-and-miss operation.

Those clicks contain a lot high frequencies which tend to be very audible. Clicks and percussive sounds in general can be strengthened with reverb but here's its working against you.

Compressing the sound will not do any good unless the spike is really loud. Compressor affects only dynamics, it won't remove anything. You might be able to hide the spike but there's a danger that you ruin the sound altogether.

If you have extra tracks left you can always "go polyphonic" so that sample cutoff wont cause trouble. Or use samples that are short enough... Or play with envelopes that you cut the notes off before they can cause trouble.

Hope this helps...

i understand what you're saying Texmex. i should have read a bit more into the original post. i was thinking about it as start and end points and not that the samples are getting cut off or the length may be variating due to the seq and freakness.

i know on some of the Monome apps several app designers started including 'microedits' which automatically adds a very small and short attack and decay to any edit made. this could be great in the UW if incorporated in a good way. the microedits should be unnoticeable. i know MPC and SP has algorithms that have this built-in.

Yeah, this is SOOO annoying for me too. The only way I've found to get around it is to manually adjust the length or end parameter for each note, so that it stops before the next note starts. Time comsuming, but it beats the clicks.

Thanks for the info.. I hope Elektron can fix this in another update. Might add this to the feature request list.. unless it's already there. Seems like it's bugging a few users. Tarekith thanks for that tip, hadn't thought of that - should work for the really bad clicks.. but yeah kinda painful. I was hoping to experiment with some more single cycles waverforms as well though, seems pretty much impossible to reduce clicks then in that situation unless going polyphonic. I tried loading in a sine wave for bass, that was nasty.

always good to add to feature request, but even better to email to: support@elektron.se

Tarekith wrote:
Yeah, this is SOOO annoying for me too. The only way I've found to get around it is to manually adjust the length or end parameter for each note, so that it stops before the next note starts. Time comsuming, but it beats the clicks.

yeah, this is what i do too.

You could also do a slide to volume 0 before the new note starts
nothing long, just one step or something

hageir wrote:
You could also do a slide to volume 0 before the new note starts
nothing long, just one step or something

huh. now THATS an idea! never thought of that...